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America's Newest X-Plane (Briefly) Goes Airborne for the Second Time...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:43:00 +0000

NASA / Jim Ross

NASA’s X-59 Experimental Supersonic Aircraft Makes Second Flight (News Release)

NASA’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft made its second flight on Friday, kicking off a series of dozens of test flights in 2026.

Although the flight duration was abbreviated due to a technical issue, the team was able to collect information that will inform future tests.

“Despite the early landing, this is a good day for the team. We collected more data, and the pilot landed safely,” said Cathy Bahm, project manager for NASA’s Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, in Edwards, California. “We’re looking forward to getting back to flight as soon as possible.”

The aircraft took off at 10:54 a.m. PDT from Edwards Air Force Base, near NASA Armstrong. Several minutes into the flight, pilot Jim “Clue” Less saw a vehicle system warning in the aircraft’s cockpit. Following flight procedures, the aircraft landed at 11:03 a.m. after a return-to-base was called.

“As we like to say, it was just like the simulator – and that’s what we like to hear,” Less said. “This is just the beginning of a long flight campaign.”

The X-59 is designed to fly supersonic – or faster than the speed of sound – while generating only a quiet thump instead of a loud sonic boom. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s QueSST mission, which is working to make commercial supersonic flight over land a reality.

The aircraft is set to accelerate testing in 2026, demonstrating performance and airworthiness during a process known as envelope expansion, where it will gradually fly faster and higher, on its way to supersonic speeds.

Source: NASA.Gov

America's Next Saturn-bound Robotic Explorer Is Officially in Assembly!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:11:00 +0000

NASA / Johns Hopkins APL

NASA’s Dragonfly Mission Begins Rotorcraft Integration, Testing Stage (News Release - March 10)

NASA Dragonfly’s integration and testing – the activities involved in assembling the mission’s rotorcraft lander and testing it for the rigors of launch and extreme conditions of space – is officially underway in clean rooms and control rooms at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.

In partnership with teams across government, industry and academia, APL is building the car-sized, nuclear-powered drone for NASA. Dragonfly is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2028 for a six-year voyage to Saturn’s moon Titan, where it will explore a range of diverse sites to study the chemistry, geology and atmosphere of the terrestrial moon and ultimately advance our understanding of life’s chemical origins.

Primary activities during the first weeks of this effort included power and functional testing on two critical components: the Integrated Electronics Module (IEM) and the Power Switching Units (PSUs). Think of the IEM as Dragonfly’s “brain,” containing the spacecraft’s core avionics (such as command and data handling, guidance and navigation, and communications) in a single space-saving and power-efficient box. The IEM and both PSUs were connected to Dragonfly’s wiring system and passed their first power-service checks.

“This milestone essentially marks the birth of our flight system,” said Elizabeth Turtle, Dragonfly principal investigator from APL. “Building a first-of-its kind vehicle to fly across another ocean world in our Solar System pushes us to the edge of what’s possible, but that’s exactly why this stage is so exciting. The team is doing an outstanding job, and every component we install and every test we run brings us one step closer to launching Dragonfly to Titan.”

Much work has led up to this point. The aeroshell and cruise-stage assemblies are moving forward with integration and testing at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. The team completed a thorough aerodynamic test series in the wind tunnels of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Testing continues in the Titan Chamber at APL of the foam coating that will insulate the rotorcraft from Titan’s frigid temperatures.

The science payload is coming together at locations around the country and internationally. The flight radio has been delivered, and additional flight systems are scheduled for delivery and testing within the next six months.

Dragonfly integration and testing will continue at APL through this year and into early 2027, when system-level testing is planned at Lockheed Martin. Late next year, the lander returns to APL for final space-environment testing before heading to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in spring 2028 for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket that summer.

“Starting integration and testing is a huge milestone for the Dragonfly team,” said Annette Dolbow, the Dragonfly integration and test lead at APL. “We’ve spent years designing and refining this amazing rotorcraft on computer screens and in laboratories, and now we get to bring all those elements together and transform Dragonfly into an actual flight system.”

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Ed Whitman

NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Steve Gribben

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:31:00 +0000

Today marks 40 days since my Mom's passing.

My family attended a Mass this morning to honor her.

Images of the Day #3: An AI Armored Personnel Carrier...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 06:51:00 +0000

Richard T. Par

Just thought I'd share this illustration of an armored personnel carrier (APC) that I conjured in my mind over 15 years ago! I got the idea for this vehicle when I hung out at one of my friends' house and watched as he played the video game Gears of War on his Xbox console. In the level that my friend played in particular, he was battling monsters while driving through a city street using the Armadillo APC—shown at the bottom of this Blog entry.

The adventurous concept of traveling inside an armored ground transport with your fellow soldiers while fighting alien (or even supernatural) creatures is what motivated me to come up with this APC. There are no monsters in the AI images above and below, but this vehicle being depicted driving through an eerie forest at night is meant to give this picture a somewhat ominous feel!

And as with the hybrid ship that I rendered over a week ago, these APC illustrations are based on a sketch I drew earlier today...seen directly below. The APC is meant to have six wheels, but you'll notice that only five are seen in these pictures because the vehicle is depicted from a near-frontal view, and ChatGPT would've had a tricky time rendering two gun turrets that are placed between the three wheels that would be on the port side of the vehicle. I'll probably draw another artwork of this transport showing its side profile...so you can see what I'm talking about.

If this APC existed in real life, it would have a really difficult time traveling on city streets or up narrow mountainside roads considering how wide and heavy it would be. But I don't care about practicality here; I love this APC's design! Happy Sunday.

Richard T. Par

Richard T. Par

Images of the Day #2: Ladies in White...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 20:35:00 +0000

Richard T. Par

Just thought I'd share these illustrations of two ladies in white standing on a hilltop balcony...staring at distant house lights in the dark valley below. Just like the images of the hybrid ship in my previous entry, these pictures were rendered through ChatGPT. Unlike the images of the hybrid ship, these illustrations (which I rendered two days before I created those pictures of the ship) weren't based on a sketch I drew, but very specific descriptions in the prompt that I typed to create these AI images.

So what motivated me to render these particular images, you ask? Just me being a hopeless romantic. The illustration above is more faithful to the vision that was stuck in my head for years while the picture below has better image quality. Carry on!

Richard T. Par

Images of the Day: An AI Sea Vessel...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 07:59:00 +0000

Richard T. Par

As mentioned in this Blog entry, I used ChatGPT to create other AI illustrations...not because I've forsaken traditional artwork using mechanical pencils and Crayola markers, but to quickly jot out concepts of different things like ships and military vehicles that have been on my mind for a while.

In the two AI images posted here, you see renderings of a hybrid ship that's part cruise liner and part research vessel.

In the sketch I made that's shown directly below (See? I told you that I didn't eschew traditional drawings for artificial intelligence), you can spot three trapezoid-shaped compartments near the top of the structure at the center of this vessel... Those are hotel rooms. I imagine that adventure-seeking one-percenters would book these rooms—which are basically intended to be penthouse suites.

Behind the center structure is a small submarine (specifically, a deep sea submersible that would be used to explore such locales as the sunken Titanic...but designed much better than OceanGate's Titan sub that made headlines in 2023) that could be deployed during the ship's expeditions. The submarine would obviously not be used for a journey to Antarctica or the Arctic region. I envisioned two submersibles being staged on the deck of this ship, but ChatGPT had difficulty rendering the one sub you see in these illustrations!

This ship would be equipped with its own helicopter (whose size is not to scale with the ship in these images) that could be parked inside the hangar that's visible near the stern of this vessel.

I imagined this ship traveling to such distant locales as Point Nemo—a spot in the South Pacific Ocean that's farthest from any land, located 1,670 miles (2,688 kilometers) from the nearest shore. To make such a trip, this ship would be nuclear-powered (hence the absence of smoke stacks)...like U.S. aircraft carriers and such non-military vessels as some Russian icebreakers! Speaking of icebreakers, this ship would also be one, as depicted by the vessel traveling through a field of ice in the two illustrations of this entry.

Speaking of U.S. aircraft carriers, I imagined this ship to be a floating city like the military vessels, and just as long too! Which is why I used ChatGPT to render multiple versions of this ship until it finally churned out the illustration at the top of this entry. As you can see, the vessel is so lengthy that there are not three but five trapezoidal penthouse suites at the middle of this ship! So cool.

How much would it cost to build this ship and who would operate it, you ask? I have no clue! I'm just amused that ChatGPT was able to bring this concept from my mind to the computer screen (and then sheets of paper, as I intend to print out these illustrations) with a properly-worded prompt.

Have a nice day.

Richard T. Par

Richard T. Par

A New Poster for THE BROKEN TABLE...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 19:11:00 +0000

Just thought I'd share this new poster for my 2020 short film, The Broken Table!

There are no plans to submit my project to any more film festivals or even shoot a sequel (considering the fact that I have no screenplay for one, and my lead actress, MJ, has been residing in her home country of Saudi Arabia since 2020), but I just wanted to use the latest wonders of technology to create new material for the film. Yes, I'm referring to ChatGPT.

Anyways, creating new posters for cinematic work that I did over half a decade ago isn't the only thing I used AI for. More illustrations to come later. Happy Monday!

Richard T. Par

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 05:25:00 +0000

My Mom was finally laid to rest today. May she forever be at peace.

A video slideshow that I created to celebrate the life of my wonderful Mom is at the bottom of this entry.

The Latest Update on America's Newest Stealth Bomber...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 04:15:00 +0000

USAF

DAF Increases B-21 Raider Production Capacity to Deliver Combat Capability Faster (Press Release)

AURORA, Colo. (AFNS) -- The Department of the Air Force and Northrop Grumman Corp. have reached an agreement to expand production capacity for the B-21 Raider, accelerating delivery of the Air Force’s next-generation stealth bomber fleet.

The agreement applies $4.5 billion in funding already authorized and appropriated under the fiscal year 2025 reconciliation legislation. This agreement accelerates the approved acquisition profile by increasing annual production capacity by 25%, compressing delivery timelines while preserving cost and performance discipline.

The B-21 program delivered aircraft on schedule in 2025 and remains on track for aircraft on the ramp at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, in 2027. The accelerated production agreement builds on that demonstrated performance, translating program stability into faster fielding of combat capability.

“The B-21 is foundational to our long-range strike capability and to credible deterrence,” said Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink. “Accelerating production capacity now ensures we deliver operational capability to combatant commanders faster — strengthening our ability to outpace, deter, and, if necessary, defeat emerging threats. This is disciplined execution at the speed the security environment demands.”

Currently executing flight tests, the long-range, penetrating strike aircraft is designed to operate in the most contested environments and hold any target at risk. The B-21 integrates advanced stealth, resilient networking, and a modern, data-driven command and control architecture — ensuring that the Joint Force retains a decisive advantage in an increasingly complex battlespace.

Source: United States Air Force

Up Next: The Los Angeles Summer Olympics!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 07:59:00 +0000

Earlier today, the closing ceremony was held for the Milano Cortina Games at the historic Verona Arena in Italy. This event capped off two weeks of sporting competitions that saw Team USA win a total of 33 medals—12 of them gold, and 8 of those 12 gold medals being won by women! Among these women were stellar figure skater Alysa Liu and veteran alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who earned Olympic gold in women's slalom...her first since she won the giant slalom at the Pyeongchang Winter Games in 2018.

Other Team USA heroes that emerged from the 2026 Games were Alysa Liu's fellow figure skaters Amber Glenn, Ilia Malinin, Madsion Chock, Evan Bates, Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea; alpine skier Breezy Johnson; freestyle skiers Elizabeth Lemley, Alex Ferreira, Connor Curran, Kaila Kuhn and Christopher Lillis; speed skater Jordan Stolz and monobob pilot Elana Meyers Taylor. And to top things off, the members of the men and women's hockey teams who both bested Canada in their respective gold medal games to take home the hardware. In the case of the men's hockey team, today's win was America's first victory since the "Miracle on Ice" team defeated the Soviets at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York.

With the 2026 Games now in the books, all eyes turn to the LA28 Olympics in Southern California! The Los Angeles Summer Games will actually have events (the majority of them soccer matches) that take place in Northern California as well as other states like Oklahoma, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Missouri. But the main events such as track and field, gymnastics, swimming, basketball, baseball and flag football will occur in downtown Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, respectively.

The closest competitions to where I reside, in Pomona, will be held in the city of Industry (for mountain biking) and the Pomona Fairgrounds (for cricket)! For personal reasons, I don't wanna think too far ahead (even though 2028 is only two years away), but I'm excited about the prospect of attending Olympic events only 4 to 10 miles from where I live. Hope you guys had a nice weekend!

ULA's Newest Launch Vehicle Has Another SRB Anomaly While Completing Its Fourth Flight to Earth Orbit...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 05:39:00 +0000

United Launch Alliance

U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command and United Launch Alliance Successfully Launch USSF-87 Mission Aboard a Vulcan Rocket (News Release - February 12)

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) System Delta 80 (SYD 80) and its mission partners successfully completed a National Security Space Launch (NSSL) after a pre-dawn liftoff at 4:22 a.m. EST (1:22 a.m. PST) today aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This was the second NSSL mission for ULA’s Vulcan rocket.

“We’re proud of everyone and the work they’ve done to make today’s launch a success and increase America’s warfighting capability.” said Mr. Stephen Burke, Vulcan System Program Director.

The Vulcan rocket successfully delivered the mission to the designated orbits despite an observed anomaly early in flight on one of the four solid rocket motors. The USSF SYD 80 team will work closely with ULA per our mission assurance space flightworthiness process before the next Vulcan national security space mission.

The USSF-87 mission included a variety of payloads that will not only advance space technology but also benefit current and future programs of record. The Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) space system is a capability supporting the U.S. Space Command’s space surveillance operations as a high-performance, dedicated Space Surveillance Network sensor. Built by Northrop-Grumman, it was deployed approximately 6.5 hours after liftoff.

The system was delivered to orbit by ULA’s Vulcan in the “VC4S” configuration, featuring a Centaur V upper stage, four solid rocket motors and a standard payload fairing. It capitalizes on ULA’s industrial base to deliver highly-capable solutions that achieve space dominance for our national security.

In addition to GSSAP, USSF-87 included additional research, development and training systems, which Guardians will use to refine tactics, techniques and procedures for precision on-orbit maneuvers. These systems will also enhance and validate resiliency and protection in geosynchronous orbit.

Systems Delta 80 (SYD 80) -- who directed today’s mission -- executes the U.S. Space Force's core function of Space Access, performing space lift and range control missions in close partnership with the 30th and 45th Space Launch Deltas (SLD 30, SLD 45). Additionally, the Delta develops resilient and ready launch and test infrastructure to expand U.S. economic, technological and scientific leadership. Furthermore, SYD 80 delivers servicing, mobility and logistics capabilities that operate in, from and to the space domain.

Source: Space Systems Command

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United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket today successfully launched national security spacecraft into geosynchronous orbit, including a "neighborhood watch" mission to patrol the strategic high ground of space.

Despite the solid rocket motor performance anomaly, the Vulcan… pic.twitter.com/HQCOquvofZ
— ULA (@ulalaunch) February 12, 2026

The Vulcan vehicle rolls during its wild ride to orbit in this tracking video captured south of the launch site by Max Q Productions @CarstensPete pic.twitter.com/FvmkrvJYnz
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) February 12, 2026

Europe's Newest Rocket Takes Flight in its Most Powerful Configuration...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 04:07:00 +0000

Arianespace Successfully Launches 32 Amazon Leo Satellites with the First Ariane 64 (Press Release)

On February 12, 2026 at 1:45 p.m. local time (4:45 p.m. UTC, 5:45 p.m. CET), Arianespace successfully launched 32 Amazon Leo satellites with Ariane 64 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The satellites were delivered to a low-Earth orbit, at an altitude of approximately 465 km. The mission lasted 1 hour and 54 minutes, from lift-off to separation of all the satellites.

The mission, called VA267 (LE-01 for Amazon Leo), initiated the first of 18 Ariane 6 launches booked to support the deployment of the Amazon Leo constellation. It also marked the first launch for the constellation performed by a European launcher.

David Cavaillolès, Arianespace's CEO said “Today's successful flight marks a major milestone for Arianespace, for our customer Amazon Leo and for the whole European space sector. With the first flight of Ariane 64, Europe's heavy-lift launcher has demonstrated its ability to deliver the most demanding large-scale constellation missions. We are proud to support Amazon Leo with a reliable, high-performance European launch solution as we begin a series of 18 missions enabling the deployment of their constellation. We thank Amazon Leo for their confidence and are proud to support them as a trusted launch partner.”

Martin Sion, ArianeGroup's CEO announced “This new success is a major milestone for the development of Ariane 6 as it was the first flight in the four-booster version. This successful entry into service once again highlights the quality of the teams at ArianeGroup and its European partners. Now, Europe has two versions of Ariane 6 heavy launcher to meet all of its needs. Our teams are already working to improve the launcher's competitiveness through the development of evolutions that will increase its payload capacity. In 2026, we will therefore accelerate production and integrate major improvements so that Ariane 6 will be even better.”

For this new range of constellation-type missions, Ariane 6 incorporates various adaptations to accommodate the increased payload mass.

Flight VA267, the first launch of Ariane 6 in its four-booster configuration, carried the heaviest payload ever placed into orbit by the European launcher. During this mission, Ariane 6 delivered around 20 metric tons into orbit – about twice the payload capacity of the two-booster Ariane 62 variant. It demonstrates the full-power capability of Ariane 6 and its ability to meet the requirements of large-scale constellation deployments.

Ariane 6 also flew for the first time with its long fairing configuration. During this mission, the 32 Amazon Leo satellites were accommodated under a 20-meter-high fairing, giving the launcher a height of 62 meters.

This flight VA267 is a major milestone for the development of Ariane 6 under the European Space Agency's oversight.

Source: Arianespace

The Winter Games Are Here While the NFL Has Revealed Its 2025 Regular Season MVP...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 05:03:00 +0000

Mike Segar / REUTERS

Earlier today, the opening ceremony for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games was held at San Siro Stadium in Northern Italy, while yesterday, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was named as the Most Valuable Player of the National Football League's 2025 regular season.

While it would've been awesome if Stafford could utilize his newly-crowned MVP skills against the New England Patriots (and fellow MVP candidate Drake Maye) in Super Bowl LX two days from now, this was not meant to be as Stafford will have to wait till next season to try to bring the Rams to the Big Game for the second time since 2022. And interestingly, Super Bowl XLI will be played at Inglewood's SoFi Stadium—where Stafford won his first NFL championship almost four years ago.

In regards to the Olympics, the Games will last through February 22...and feature such Team USA favorites as figure skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates, alpine skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle and snowboarder Chloe Kim vying for another gold or silver medal, respectively. Carry on!

The Latest Update on the Mars 2020 Mission...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 05:09:00 +0000

NASA / JPL - Caltech

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Completes First AI-Planned Drive on Mars (News Release - January 30)

The team for the six-wheeled scientist used a vision-capable AI to create a safe route over the Red Planet’s surface without the input of human route planners.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has completed the first drives on another world that were planned by artificial intelligence. Executed on December 8 and 10, and led by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the demonstration used generative AI to create waypoints for Perseverance, a complex decision-making task typically performed manually by the mission’s human rover planners.

“This demonstration shows how far our capabilities have advanced and broadens how we will explore other worlds,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Autonomous technologies like this can help missions to operate more efficiently, respond to challenging terrain, and increase science return as distance from Earth grows. It’s a strong example of teams applying new technology carefully and responsibly in real operations.”

During the demonstration, the team leveraged a type of generative AI called vision-language models to analyze existing data from JPL’s surface mission dataset. The AI used the same imagery and data that human planners rely on to generate waypoints — fixed locations where the rover takes up a new set of instructions — so that Perseverance could safely navigate the challenging Martian terrain.

The initiative was led out of JPL’s Rover Operations Center (ROC) in collaboration with Anthropic, using the company’s Claude AI models.

Progress for Mars, beyond

Mars is on average about 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) away from Earth. This vast distance creates a significant communication lag, making real-time remote operation — or “joy-sticking” — of a rover impossible. Instead, for the past 28 years, over several missions, rover routes have been planned and executed by human “drivers,” who analyze the terrain and status data to sketch a route using waypoints, which are usually spaced no more than 330 feet (100 meters) apart to avoid any potential hazards. Then they send the plans via NASA’s Deep Space Network to the rover, which executes them.

But for Perseverance’s drives on the 1,707th and 1,709th Martian days, or sols, of the mission, the team did something different: Generative AI provided the analysis of the high-resolution orbital imagery from the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and terrain-slope data from digital elevation models. After identifying critical terrain features — bedrock, outcrops, hazardous boulder fields, sand ripples and the like — it generated a continuous path complete with waypoints.

To ensure that the AI’s instructions were fully compatible with the rover’s flight software, the engineering team also processed the drive commands through JPL’s “digital twin” (virtual replica of the rover), verifying over 500,000 telemetry variables before sending commands to Mars.

On December 8, with generative AI waypoints in its memory, Perseverance drove 689 feet (210 meters). Two days later, it drove 807 feet (246 meters).

“The fundamental elements of generative AI are showing a lot of promise in streamlining the pillars of autonomous navigation for off-planet driving: perception (seeing the rocks and ripples), localization (knowing where we are), and planning and control (deciding and executing the safest path),” said Vandi Verma, a space roboticist at JPL and a member of the Perseverance engineering team. “We are moving towards a day where generative AI and other smart tools will help our surface rovers handle kilometer-scale drives while minimizing operator workload, and flag interesting surface features for our science team by scouring huge volumes of rover images.”

“Imagine intelligent systems not only on the ground at Earth, but also in edge applications in our rovers, helicopters, drones and other surface elements trained with the collective wisdom of our NASA engineers, scientists and astronauts,” said Matt Wallace, manager of JPL’s Exploration Systems Office. “That is the game-changing technology we need to establish the infrastructure and systems required for a permanent human presence on the Moon and take the U.S. to Mars and beyond."

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 04:43:00 +0000

Rest in Peace, Mom. I love you.
December 6, 1945 - January 29, 2026

An Exoplanet-hunting Spacecraft Photographs Our Solar System's Interstellar Visitor...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 06:13:00 +0000

NASA / Daniel Muthukrishna, MIT

NASA’s TESS Reobserves Comet 3I/ATLAS (News Release)

NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS during a special observation run from January 15 to 22. Scientists will use the data to study the comet’s activity and rotation.

Using TESS data from January 15 and January 18 to 19, Daniel Muthukrishna, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, compiled a series of images into a short video that shows 3I/ATLAS as a bright moving dot with a tail.

The comet’s brightness is around 11.5 in apparent magnitude, or approximately 100 times fainter than what humans can see with the unaided eye.

All of the TESS data from January 15 through 22 are publicly available on the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes as of Tuesday. The initially-calibrated measurements from January 15 used for the brightness estimate and the video were posted on January 19.

The TESS spacecraft scans a wide swath of the sky for about a month at a time, looking for variations in the light from distant stars to spot orbiting exoplanets, or worlds beyond our Solar System. This technique also allows TESS to identify and monitor comets and asteroids out to large distances.

The mission’s wide field of view previously happened to observe 3I/ATLAS in May 2025, almost two months before it was discovered. Astronomers looking back at the TESS data were able to identify the faint comet by stacking multiple observations to track its movement.

The recent 3I/ATLAS observations were temporarily interrupted from January 15 to 18 when TESS entered a safe mode following an issue with its solar panels.

Source: NASA.Gov

The Latest Update on America's Next Saturn-bound Robotic Explorer...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 06:29:00 +0000

NASA

Flight Engineers Give NASA’s Dragonfly Lift (News Release)

In sending a car-sized rotorcraft to explore Saturn’s moon Titan, NASA’s Dragonfly mission will undertake an unprecedented voyage of scientific discovery. And the work to ensure that this first-of-its-kind project can fulfill its ambitious exploration vision is underway in some of the nation’s most advanced space simulation and testing laboratories.

Set for launch in 2028, the Dragonfly rotorcraft is being designed and built at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, with contributions from organizations around the world. On arrival in 2034, Dragonfly will exploit Titan’s dense atmosphere and low gravity to fly to dozens of locations, exploring varied environments from organic equatorial dunes to an impact crater where liquid water and complex organic materials essential to life (at least as we know it) may have existed together.

Aerodynamic testing

When full rotorcraft integration and testing begins in February, the team will tap into a trove of data gathered through critical technical trials conducted over the past three years, including, most recently, two campaigns at the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT) facility at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Over five weeks, from August into September, the team evaluated the performance of Dragonfly’s rotor system – which provides the lift for the lander to fly and enables it to maneuver – in Titan-like conditions, looking at aeromechanical performance factors such as stress on the rotor arms, and effects of vibration on the rotor blades and lander body. In late December, the team also wrapped up a set of aerodynamics tests on smaller-scale Dragonfly rotor models in the TDT.

“When Dragonfly enters the atmosphere at Titan and parachutes deploy after the heat shield does its job, the rotors are going to have to work perfectly the first time,” said Dave Piatak, branch chief for aeroelasticity at NASA Langley. “There’s no room for error, so any concerns with vehicle structural dynamics or aerodynamics need to be known now and tested on the ground. With the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel here at Langley, NASA offers just the right capability for the Dragonfly team to gather this critical data.”

Critical parts

In his three years as an experimental machinist at APL, Cory Pennington has crafted parts for projects dispatched around the globe. But fashioning rotors for a drone to explore another world in our Solar System? That was new – and a little daunting.

“The rotors are some of the most important parts on Dragonfly,” Pennington said. “Without the rotors, it doesn’t fly – and it doesn’t meet its mission objectives at Titan.”

Pennington and team cut Dragonfly’s first rotors on November 1, 2024. They refined the process as they went: starting with waterjet paring of 1,000-pound aluminum blocks, followed by rough machining, cover fitting, vent-hole drilling and hole-threading. After an inspection, the parts were cleaned, sent out for welding and returned for final finishing.

“We didn’t have time or materials to make test parts or extras, so every cut had to be right the first time,” Pennington said, adding that the team also had to find special tools and equipment to accommodate some material changes and design tweaks.

The team was able to deliver the parts a month early. Engineers set up and spin-tested the rotors at APL – attached to a full-scale model representing half of the Dragonfly lander – before transporting the entire package to the TDT at NASA Langley in late July.

“On Titan, we’ll control the speeds of Dragonfly’s different rotors to induce forward flight, climbs, descents and turns,” said Felipe Ruiz, lead Dragonfly rotor engineer at APL.

“It’s a complicated geometry going to a flight environment that we are still learning about. So the wind tunnel tests are one of the most important venues for us to demonstrate the design.”

And the rotors passed the tests.

“Not only did the tests validate the design team’s approach, we’ll use all that data to create high-fidelity representations of loads, forces and dynamics that help us predict Dragonfly’s performance on Titan with a high degree of confidence,” said Rick Heisler, wind tunnel test lead from APL.

Next, the rotors will undergo fatigue and cryogenic trials under simulated Titan conditions, where the temperature is -290° Fahrenheit (-178° Celsius), before building the actual flight rotors.

“We’re not just cutting metal — we’re fabricating something that’s going to another world,” Pennington said. “It’s incredible to know that what we build will fly on Titan.”

Collaboration, innovation

Elizabeth “Zibi” Turtle, Dragonfly principal investigator at APL, says the latest work in the TDT demonstrates the mission’s innovation, ingenuity and collaboration across government and industry.

“The team worked well together, under time pressure, to develop solutions, assess design decisions, and execute fabrication and testing,” she said. “There’s still much to do between now and our launch in 2028, but everyone who worked on this should take tremendous pride in these accomplishments that make it possible for Dragonfly to fly on Titan.”

Dragonfly has been a collaborative effort from the start. Kenneth Hibbard, mission systems engineer from APL, cites the vertical-lift expertise of Penn State University on the initial rotor design, aero-related modeling and analysis, and testing support in the TDT, as well as NASA Langley’s 14-by-22-foot Subsonic Tunnel. Sikorsky Aircraft of Connecticut has also supported aeromechanics and aerodynamics testing and analysis, as well as flight hardware modeling and simulation.

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, leads the Dragonfly mission for NASA in collaboration with several NASA centers, industry partners, academic institutions and international space agencies. Elizabeth “Zibi” Turtle of APL is the principal investigator. Dragonfly is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA

The Latest Update on Rocket Lab's First Interplanetary Spacecraft...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 05:11:00 +0000

Rocket Lab / UC Berkeley

NASA’s Second ESCAPADE Spacecraft Completes Trajectory Maneuver (News Release)

On January 6, the mission operations team for NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) successfully completed the second trajectory correction maneuver for one of the two spacecraft, after delaying the attempt in December 2025. The other spacecraft completed its first two maneuvers in December as originally planned.

This maneuver sets up the spacecraft for its "loiter" or "Earth-proximity" orbit around a location in space about a million miles from Earth called Lagrange point 2. In November 2026, the twin spacecraft will fly by Earth to use the planet’s gravity to slingshot their way to Mars.

The two ESCAPADE spacecraft will arrive at Mars in September 2027, where they will study how a million-mile-per-hour stream of material flowing from the Sun, known as the solar wind, interacts with the Martian environment and how that drives atmospheric loss at the Red Planet.

Source: NASA.Gov

2026 Is Finally Here...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 19:01:00 +0000

Happy New Year, everyone. Just a reminder that Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" (or as I call it, the One Big Bullshit Bill) will begin screwing Americans over in 2026—specifically after the November midterm elections. 17 million individuals in the United States are at risk of losing their healthcare thanks to the demented Pedophile in Chief.

So as a reminder, do everything you can to nullify the effects of this crappy piece of legislation, and completely vote blue 10 months from now! So-called House Speaker Mike Johnson and Steve "Satan" Bannon both predict that the Democrats regaining control of the House of Representatives in the midterms will lead to yet another Trump impeachment, and spell the end of his reign of incompetency and corruption... Let's prove them right.

The Final Post of 2025: A Beautiful Image by the Mars Science Laboratory Rover...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 18:45:00 +0000

NASA / JPL - Caltech

Curiosity Sends a Postcard From Mount Sharp’s Boxwork Region (News Release)

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to capture panoramas at two times of day on November 18, 2025, spanning periods that occurred on both the 4,722nd and 4,723rd Martian days, or sols, of the mission. The panoramas were captured at 4:15 p.m. on Sol 4,722 and 8:20 a.m. on Sol 4,723 (both at local Mars time), then merged together. Color was later added for an artistic interpretation of the scene with blue representing the morning panorama and yellow representing the afternoon one.

The resulting “postcard” is similar to ones that the rover took in June 2023 and November 2021. Adding color to these kinds of merged images helps different details stand out in the landscape.

The scene captured in this postcard shows Curiosity at the top of a ridge referred to as a boxwork formation. These formations crisscross a region in the lower foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain which Curiosity has been climbing since 2014.

Curiosity used the drill on the end of its robotic arm to collect a rock sample from the top of this ridge at a spot nicknamed “Nevado Sajama.” This view looks north across the boxwork formations and downslope of Mount Sharp towards the floor of Gale Crater, a vast impact crater that the mountain is located within. The crater’s rim can be seen far in the distant horizon, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) away.

Wheel tracks are visible in the hollow behind Curiosity, where a sample was also drilled at a spot nicknamed “Valle de la Luna.”

The boxwork formations are believed to have been created billions of years ago when water on ancient Mars dripped through rock cracks, carrying minerals with them. The minerals hardened after the water dried up; eons later, wind sandblasted the softer rock around these hardened minerals, exposing the ridges that Curiosity is exploring today. These ridges may reveal more about the planet’s watery past.

Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio.

Source: NASA.Gov

The Latest Update on the U.S. Mars Orbiter Gone AWOL...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 05:45:00 +0000

NASA

NASA Works MAVEN Spacecraft Issue Ahead of Solar Conjunction (News Release)

NASA is continuing efforts to recontact its MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft, which was last heard from on December 6. In partnership with NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), the MAVEN team has sent commands for spacecraft recovery and is monitoring the network for a spacecraft signal.

The MAVEN team also continues to analyze tracking data fragments recovered from a December 6 radio science campaign. This information is being used to create a timeline of possible events and identify likely root cause of the issue. As part of that effort, on December 16 and 20, NASA’s Curiosity team used the rover’s Mastcam instrument in an attempt to image MAVEN’s reference orbit, but MAVEN was not detected.

Additional analysis will continue, but planned monitoring will be affected by the upcoming solar conjunction.

Mars solar conjunction – a period when Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the Sun – begins on Monday, December 29, and NASA will not have contact with any Mars mission until Friday, January 16. Once the solar conjunction window is over, NASA plans to resume its efforts to reestablish communications with MAVEN.

Source: NASA.Gov

SOLAR PROBE PLUS Images Our Latest Galactic Visitor...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 04:53:00 +0000

NRL / NASA / JHUAPL. Movie processed / compiled by Guillermo Stenborg (JHUAPL)

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Observes Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS (News Release)

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS from October 18 to November 5, 2025, with its WISPR (Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe) instrument. The spacecraft snapped around 10 images of the comet per day. During this period, Parker Solar Probe was speeding away from the Sun following its 25th solar flyby on September 15.

In these initial images — which still need to go through final calibration and processing — the comet can be seen heading behind the Sun from Parker’s point of view. At the time, the comet was near its closest point to the Sun, at a distance of about 130 million miles, placing it just outside the orbit of Mars. The images offer a valuable look at the comet over a period when it couldn’t be seen from Earth because it appeared too close to the Sun from Earth’s perspective.

The WISPR team is continuing to process the data to remove stray sunlight and compensate for exposure times, which differed between the images, causing the comet to appear as if it changed brightness. The final images will ultimately help scientists better study this interstellar visitor.

Comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered by the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, in July. It is the third known object originating from outside our Solar System discovered passing through our solar neighborhood. Comet 3I/ATLAS was also seen by other NASA heliophysics missions including PUNCH, STEREO and SOHO.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NRL / NASA / JHUAPL. Movie processed / compiled by Philip Hess (NRL)

The Latest Update on SOLAR PROBE PLUS...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:21:00 +0000

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Completes 26th Closest Approach to Sun (News Release)

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed its 26th close approach to the Sun on December 13, again matching its record distance of 3.8 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) from the solar surface.

The spacecraft checked in with flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland — where Parker Solar Probe was also designed and built — Thursday, transmitting a beacon tone indicating that its systems were operating normally. The spacecraft was out of contact with Earth and operating autonomously during the close approach.

The spacecraft also equaled its record-setting speed of 430,000 mph (687,000 kph) — a mark that, like the distance, was set and subsequently matched during close approaches on December 24, 2024; March 22; June 19; and September 16. Parker Solar Probe will remain in this orbit around the Sun and continue making observations. The next steps for the mission in late 2026 and beyond are formally under NASA review.

During this solar encounter from December 8 through December 18, Parker’s four scientific instrument packages gathered data from inside the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona. The flyby, as the fifth at this distance and speed, is allowing the spacecraft to conduct unrivaled measurements of the solar wind and solar activity while the Sun is in an active phase of its 11-year cycle.

Parker will begin returning detailed telemetry on its status on Friday, December 19, with science data transmission for this solar encounter set to start on Thursday, January 15, 2026. Parker’s observations of the solar wind and solar events, such as coronal mass ejections and the aftermaths of flares, are critical to advancing humankind’s understanding of the Sun and the phenomena that drive high-energy space weather events that pose risks to astronauts, satellites, air travel, and even power grids on Earth. Understanding the fundamental physics of space weather enables more reliable prediction of astronaut safety during future deep-space missions to the Moon and Mars.

Parker Solar Probe was developed as a part of NASA’s Living With a Star (LWS) program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The LWS program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Johns Hopkins APL manages Parker Solar Probe for NASA and designed, built and operates the mission.

Source: NASA.Gov

A Milestone for the Mars 2020 Mission...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 05:27:00 +0000

NASA / JPL - Caltech / ASU / MSSS

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Ready to Roll for Miles in Years Ahead (News Release)

After nearly five years on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover has traveled almost 25 miles (40 kilometers), and the mission team has been busy testing the rover’s durability and gathering new science findings on the way to a new region nicknamed “Lac de Charmes,” where it will be searching for rocks to sample in the coming year.

Like its predecessor Curiosity, which has been exploring a different region of Mars since 2012, Perseverance was made for the long haul. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which built Perseverance and leads the mission, has continued testing the rover’s parts here on Earth to make sure the six-wheeled scientist will be strong for years to come. This past summer, JPL certified that the rotary actuators that turn the rover’s wheels can perform optimally for at least another 37 miles (60 kilometers); comparable brake testing is underway as well.

Over the past two years, engineers have extensively evaluated nearly all of the vehicle’s subsystems in this way, concluding that they can operate until at least 2031.

“These tests show the rover is in excellent shape,” said Perseverance’s deputy project manager, Steve Lee of JPL, who presented the results on Wednesday at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting, the largest gathering of planetary scientists in the United States. “All the systems are fully capable of supporting a very long-term mission to extensively explore this fascinating region of Mars.”

Perseverance has been driving through Mars’ Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake and river system, where it has been collecting scientifically compelling rock core samples. In fact, in September, the team announced that a sample from a rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” contains a potential fingerprint of past microbial life.

More efficient roving

In addition to a hefty suite of six science instruments, Perseverance packs more autonomous capabilities than past rovers. A paper published recently in IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics highlights an autonomous planning tool called Enhanced Autonomous Navigation, or ENav. The software looks up to 50 feet (15 meters) ahead for potential hazards, then chooses a path without obstacles and tells Perseverance’s wheels how to steer there.

Engineers at JPL meticulously plan each day of the rover’s activities on Mars. But once the rover starts driving, it’s on its own and sometimes has to react to unexpected obstacles in the terrain. Past rovers could do this to some degree, but not if these obstacles were clustered near each other.

Past rovers also couldn’t react as far in advance, resulting in the vehicles driving slower while approaching sand pits, rocks and ledges. In contrast, ENav’s algorithm evaluates each rover wheel independently against the elevation of terrain, trade-offs between different routes, and “keep-in” or “keep-out” areas marked by human operators for the path ahead.

“More than 90% of Perseverance’s journey has relied on autonomous driving, making it possible to quickly collect a diverse range of samples,” said JPL autonomy researcher Hiro Ono, a paper lead author. “As humans go to the Moon and even Mars in the future, long-range autonomous driving will become more critical to exploring these worlds.”

New science

A paper published Wednesday in Science details what Perseverance discovered in the “Margin Unit,” a geologic area at the margin, or inner edge, of Jezero Crater. The rover collected three samples from that region. Scientists think that these samples may be particularly useful for showing how ancient rocks from Mars’ deep interior interacted with water and the atmosphere, helping create conditions supportive for life.

From September 2023 to November 2024, Perseverance ascended 1,312 feet (400 meters) of the Margin Unit, studying rocks along the way — especially those containing the mineral olivine. Scientists use minerals as timekeepers because crystals within them can record details about the precise moment and conditions in which they formed.

Jezero Crater and the surrounding area holds large reserves of olivine, which forms at high temperatures, typically deep within a planet, and offers a snapshot of what was going on in the planet’s interior. Scientists think the Margin Unit’s olivine was made in an intrusion, a process where magma pushes into underground layers and cools into igneous rock. In this case, erosion later exposed that rock to the surface, where it could interact with water from the crater’s ancient lake and carbon dioxide, which was abundant in the planet’s early atmosphere.

Those interactions form new minerals called carbonates, which can preserve signs of past life, along with clues as to how Mars’ atmosphere changed over time.

“This combination of olivine and carbonate was a major factor in the choice to land at Jezero Crater,” said the new paper’s lead author, Perseverance science team member Ken Williford of Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle. “These minerals are powerful recorders of planetary evolution and the potential for life.”

Together, the olivine and carbonates record the interplay between rock, water and atmosphere inside the crater, including how each changed over time. The Margin Unit’s olivine appeared to have been altered by water at the base of the unit, where it would have been submerged. But the higher Perseverance went, the more the olivine bore textures associated with magma chambers, like crystallization, and fewer signs of water alteration.

As Perseverance leaves the Margin Unit behind for Lac de Charmes, the team will have the chance to collect new olivine-rich samples and compare the differences between the two areas.

Source: NASA.Gov

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The Latest Update on Firefly Aerospace's Next Blue Ghost Moon Mission...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:23:00 +0000

NASA / JPL - Caltech

NASA JPL Shakes Things Up Testing Future Commercial Lunar Spacecraft (News Release)

As Firefly Aerospace prepares to follow its successful soft landing on the Moon, an engineering model for its next lander is being put through its paces.

The same historic facilities that some 50 years ago prepared NASA’s twin Voyager probes for their ongoing interstellar odyssey are helping to ready a towering commercial spacecraft for a journey to the Moon. Launches involve brutal shaking and astonishingly loud noises, and testing in these facilities mimics those conditions to help ensure that mission hardware can survive the ordeal. The latest spacecraft to get this treatment are Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 2 vehicles, set to launch to the Moon’s far side next year.

The Environmental Test Laboratory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is where dozens of robotic spacecraft have been subjected to powerful jolts, extended rattling, high-decibel blasts of sound, and frigid and scorching temperatures, among other trials. Constructed in the 1960s and modernized over the years, the facilities have prepared every NASA spacecraft built or assembled at JPL for the rigors of space, from the Ranger spacecraft of the dawning Space Age to the Perseverance Mars rover to Europa Clipper, currently en route to the Jupiter system.

That legacy, and the decades of accumulated experience of the Environmental Test Laboratory team at JPL, is also supporting industry efforts to return to the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and its Artemis campaign, which will bring astronauts back to the lunar surface.

In recent months, a full-scale model of Firefly’s uncrewed Blue Ghost Mission 2 spacecraft was put through its paces by the experts in the lab’s vibration and acoustic testing facilities. Lessons learned with this model, called a structural qualification unit, will be applied to upcoming testing of the spacecraft that will fly to the Moon as early as 2026 through NASA’s CLPS.

“There’s a lot of knowledge gained over the years, passed from one generation of JPL engineers to another, that we bring to bear to support our own missions as well as commercial efforts,” said Michel William, a JPL engineer in the Environmental Test Laboratory who led the testing. “The little details that go into getting these tests right — nobody teaches you that in school, and it’s such a critical piece of space launch.”

Testing just right

The Environmental Test Laboratory team led environmental testing for Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander in 2024, and seeing the spacecraft achieve a soft Moon landing in March was a point of pride for them. Firefly’s next CLPS delivery debuts a dual-spacecraft configuration and hosts multiple international payloads, with the company’s Elytra Dark orbital vehicle stacked below the Blue Ghost lunar lander. Standing 22 feet (6.9 meters) high, the full structure is more than three times as tall as the Mission 1 lander.

This fall, a structural qualification model of the full stack was clamped to a “shaker table” inside a clean room at JPL and repeatedly rattled in three directions while hundreds of sensors monitored the rapid movement. Then, inside a separate acoustic testing chamber, giant horns blared at it from openings built into the room’s 16-inch-thick (41-centimeter-thick) concrete walls. The horns use compressed nitrogen gas to pummel spacecraft with up to 153 decibels, noise loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss in a human.

Each type of test involves several increasingly intense iterations. Between rounds, JPL’s dynamics environment experts analyze the data to compare what the spacecraft experienced to computer model predictions. Sometimes a discrepancy leads to hardware modifications, sometimes a tweak to the computer model. Engineers and technicians are careful to push the hardware, but not too far.

“You can either under-test or over-test, and both are bad,” William said. “If you over-test, you can break your hardware. If you under-test, it can break on the rocket. It’s a fine line.”

Since the model isn’t itself launching to the Moon, Firefly’s recent Environmental Test Laboratory visit didn’t include several types of trials that are generally completed only for flight hardware. A launch pad-bound spacecraft would undergo electromagnetic testing to ensure that signals from its electronic parts don’t interfere with one another. And, in what is probably the most well-known environmental test, flight-bound hardware is baked or chilled at extreme temperatures in a thermal vacuum chamber from which all of the air is sucked out.

The multiple thermal vacuum chamber facilities at JPL include two large historic “space simulators” built within NASA’s first few years of existence: a chamber that’s 10 feet in diameter and another that’s 25 feet across.

Qualifying for launch

The completion of Environmental Test Laboratory testing on Firefly’s structural qualification model helps prove that the spacecraft will survive its ride out of Earth’s atmosphere aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 2 team is now turning its focus to completing assembly and testing of the flight hardware for launch.

Once at the Moon, the Blue Ghost lander will touch down on the far side, delivering its payloads to the surface. Those include LuSEE-Night, a radio telescope that is a joint effort by NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory. A payload developed at JPL called User Terminal will test a compact, low-cost S-band radio communications system that could enable future far-side missions to talk to each other and to relay orbiters.

Meantime, Firefly’s Elytra Dark orbital vehicle will have deployed into lunar orbit ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) Lunar Pathfinder communications satellite — a payload on which NASA is collaborating. Both vehicles will remain in orbit and able to relay data from the far-side surface back to Earth.

“Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 2 will deliver both NASA and international commercial payloads to further prove out technologies for Artemis and help enable a long-term presence on the Moon,” said Ray Allensworth, Firefly’s spacecraft program director. “The extensive spacecraft environmental testing we did at JPL for Mission 1 was a critical step in Firefly’s test campaign for our historic lunar mission. Now we’re collaborating again to support a successful repeat on the Moon that will unlock even more insights for future robotic and human missions.”

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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NASA / JPL - Caltech